balances. Now you are still making multiple payments, and still getting high rates. Oh well, at least you didn't use a payday loan!

Bad to Worse

Now that you think you are finally on track, you have another financial setback. Good thing you paid off two of your credit cards when you got the loan. Now you max out one of the cards with the new charges. By this point, your minimum monthly payments are taking a third of your total paycheck. It is getting harder to pay your bills. You begin charging gasoline and groceries to your last credit card.

You are now maxing out all of you

You have been struggling with credit card debt for as long as you remember. It didn't use to be so bad. You made your minimum payments each month and could keep making purchases without much consequence.

At some point in the last year, something happened where you had to put a major expense on your credit cards. Maybe it was a major repair or a medical bill. Perhaps you lost your job for a couple of months. In just a few months, you have seen your balances go way up and your minimum payments have increased also.

Can it Get Any Worse?

You bet. Now that you are using up most of your available credit, your creditors are checking your credit report every month instead of every three or four. Those account review inquiries on your credit report are a constant reminder of how closely your creditors are watching your situation.

They know that your balances are increasing on all of your cards, not just one. When you transfer a balance, they know the drill. They see that you are getting in over your head rather than reducing your debt.

As your credit score continues to tumble, you realize that your interest rates have been going up. How could this be? You haven't even been late yet? No one told you about adjustable credit card rates.

Before you know it, your creditors have now decided that you are no longer a good credit risk. Universal default kicks in and your interest rates skyrocket to default rates of 24 to 32 percent. Your finance charges just doubled. And look at those new minimum payments. You must fork out twice as much each month to pay your credit card bills. Something has got to give.

You think, maybe a loan can rescue you from this situation. After all, a lower interest rate could save some money in finance charges and you could pay it off over time. Sounds great doesn't it!

Problem with Consolidation Loans

You apply for a loan to consolidate your debt. Request denied. You cannot believe that your once good credit score is now not good enough to get a high enough loan. Desperate, you begin applying with other lenders. It gets worse. Then you try finance companies. One of them agrees to give you a loan, with a 19% interest rate.

Now your credit score drops even more, because the credit bureaus penalize you for using finance companies. You have a higher interest rate loan that wasn't even enough to pay off all of your balances. Now you are still making multiple payments, and still getting high rates. Oh well, at least you didn't use a payday loan!

Bad to Worse

Now that you think you are finally on track, you have another financial setback. Good thing you paid off two of your credit cards when you got the loan. Now you max out one of the cards with the new charges. By this point, your minimum monthly payments are taking a third of your total paycheck. It is getting harder to pay your bills. You begin charging gasoline and groceries to your last credit card.

You are now maxing out all of your

your available credit, your creditors are checking your credit report every month instead of every three or four. Those account review inquiries on your credit report are a constant reminder of how closely your creditors are watching your situation.

They know that your balances are increasing on all of your cards, not just one. When you transfer a balance, they know the drill. They see that you are getting in over your head rather than reducing your debt.

As your credit score continues to tumble, you realize that your interest rates have been going up. How could this be? You haven't even been late yet? No one told you about adjustable credit card rates.

Before you know it, your creditors have now decided that you are no longer a good credit risk. Universal default kicks in and your interest rates skyrocket to default rates of 24 to 32 percent. Your finance charges just doubled. And look at those new minimum payments. You must fork out twice as much each month to pay your credit card bills. Something has got to give.

You think, maybe a loan can rescue you from this situation. After all, a lower interest rate could save some money in finance charges and you could pay it off over time. Sounds great doesn't it!

Problem with Consolidation Loans

You apply for a loan to consolidate your debt. Request denied. You cannot believe that your once good credit score is now not good enough to get a high enough loan. Desperate, you begin applying with other lenders. It gets worse. Then you try finance companies. One of them agrees to give you a loan, with a 19% interest rate.

Now your credit score drops even more, because the credit bureaus penalize you for using finance companies. You have a higher interest rate loan that wasn't even enough to pay off all of your balances. Now you are still making multiple payments, and still getting high rates. Oh well, at least you didn't use a payday loan!

Bad to Worse

Now that you think you are finally on track, you have another financial setback. Good thing you paid off two of your credit cards when you got the loan. Now you max out one of the cards with the new charges. By this point, your minimum monthly payments are taking a third of your total paycheck. It is getting harder to pay your bills. You begin charging gasoline and groceries to your last credit card.

You are now maxing out all of you

en late yet? No one told you about adjustable credit card rates.

Before you know it, your creditors have now decided that you are no longer a good credit risk. Universal default kicks in and your interest rates skyrocket to default rates of 24 to 32 percent. Your finance charges just doubled. And look at those new minimum payments. You must fork out twice as much each month to pay your credit card bills. Something has got to give.

You think, maybe a loan can rescue you from this situation. After all, a lower interest rate could save some money in finance charges and you could pay it off over time. Sounds great doesn't it!

Problem with Consolidation Loans

You apply for a loan to consolidate your debt. Request denied. You cannot believe that your once good credit score is now not good enough to get a high enough loan. Desperate, you begin applying with other lenders. It gets worse. Then you try finance companies. One of them agrees to give you a loan, with a 19% interest rate.

Now your credit score drops even more, because the credit bureaus penalize you for using finance companies. You have a higher interest rate loan that wasn't even enough to pay off all of your balances. Now you are still making multiple payments, and still getting high rates. Oh well, at least you didn't use a payday loan!

Bad to Worse

Now that you think you are finally on track, you have another financial setback. Good thing you paid off two of your credit cards when you got the loan. Now you max out one of the cards with the new charges. By this point, your minimum monthly payments are taking a third of your total paycheck. It is getting harder to pay your bills. You begin charging gasoline and groceries to your last credit card.

You are now maxing out all of you

r time. Sounds great doesn't it!

Problem with Consolidation Loans

You apply for a loan to consolidate your debt. Request denied. You cannot believe that your once good credit score is now not good enough to get a high enough loan. Desperate, you begin applying with other lenders. It gets worse. Then you try finance companies. One of them agrees to give you a loan, with a 19% interest rate.

Now your credit score drops even more, because the credit bureaus penalize you for using finance companies. You have a higher interest rate loan that wasn't even enough to pay off all of your balances. Now you are still making multiple payments, and still getting high rates. Oh well, at least you didn't use a payday loan!

Bad to Worse

Now that you think you are finally on track, you have another financial setback. Good thing you paid off two of your credit cards when you got the loan. Now you max out one of the cards with the new charges. By this point, your minimum monthly payments are taking a third of your total paycheck. It is getting harder to pay your bills. You begin charging gasoline and groceries to your last credit card.

You are now maxing out all of you

balances. Now you are still making multiple payments, and still getting high rates. Oh well, at least you didn't use a payday loan!

Bad to Worse

Now that you think you are finally on track, you have another financial setback. Good thing you paid off two of your credit cards when you got the loan. Now you max out one of the cards with the new charges. By this point, your minimum monthly payments are taking a third of your total paycheck. It is getting harder to pay your bills. You begin charging gasoline and groceries to your last credit card.

You are now maxing out all of your cards, and can no longer make all of your payments on-time. You have to pay $15 just to do a phone pay on one credit card. You think, that's expensive, but its cheaper than that $39 late fee that you just got on one of your other credit cards.

Now you find that your are falling behind on all of your accounts. They want double the normal payment plus late fees. You think, maybe I can get another loan to get help. After all, it worked the last time, right?

Some surveys estimate that 70% of cardholders that pay off credit card debt using loans find themselves in worse debt in less than two years time. If only you knew that before, you might have focused on the problem.

Debt Management

Your friend tells you about how they were in a similar situation and they sought credit counseling. You think, only people that spend too much go to credit counseling. You don't have a spending problem, you just had some emergencies that put you in a bind.

You reluctantly go to credit counseling and find out that your bind resulted from carrying credit card debt and not saving for those emergencies. You are embarrassed yet amazed that the credit counselor does not judge you. Instead, they listen to your needs and help you determine solutions that you prefer. They answer your questions and encourage you to do what's best for you. You never knew that it could feel this good to get help.

You walk out of your session and feel a 2,000 pound load of bricks get taken off your shoulders. You now know the truth. Those credit card companies aren't out to get you. They just want to get paid. In fact, they are helping you get back on track by lowering your interest. Even your minimum payments are lower.

Its going to still be tight, because you cannot charge your living expenses anymore. You must save so that you can afford even the smallest luxuries. You get back on track though, and you are thankful that you got help when you did. After all, it could have been much worse. You realize how close you came when you read about another friend in the newspaper who just filed bankruptcy. That could have been you!